ME3: Retribution
by Razzamatronic
Summary: story takes place after ending cutscene of ME2, a story of the war with the reapers, please review and comment.Chapter 5 is now uploaded. sorry for the short chapters near the beginning, I was having some writers block for a while. Please review.
1. Chapter 1

Mass Effect 3: Retribution

This is my first fanfiction and I will accept any reviews or opinions.

This takes place after ME3, I do not own, nor do I claim to own any of the characters from the ME universe.

David Shepard. Default male. Infiltrator. Colony born. Sometimes Renegade, sometimes Paragon. Renegade ending. Everybody survives. No romances.

Prologue

Five days after the Normandy had destroyed the Collector base, the ship was still on the dangerous side of the Omega4 relay and was repairing and scanning for useful data among the hundreds of wrecked and derelict ships. So far, the only data they had collected was from the base.

Chapter 1

Commander David Shepard strode down the main corridor of the Normandy SR2, the frigate had taken quite a beating in the battle with the collector ship, so the crew had been pulling double shifts to repair her.

They were slowly heading for the Omega4 relay, with the colonists and the original Normandy crew aboard, as well as the knowledge that the Reapers were on their way.

The space around the relay flashed and crackled with ruby energy as the Normandy approached, EDI began to call out status reports and Joker expertly piloted the ship into position.

The ship was back on the other side in a few seconds.

"well, it's good to see that they had faith in us.". Joker muttered, Shepard peered at the main view, three Cerberus cruisers hung in space, they were fully powered up and ready for battle but powered down when they saw the Normandy.

The communications Panel lit up. Joker read the message and swivel to face Shepard.

"There is an incoming transmission from the Illusive Man commander.". David stroked his beard.

"How soon can you get the FTL drive up?". Joker turned back to his console and began manipulating controls.

"Give me two minutes.". David headed down to the communications room.

The holo-pad illuminated when Shepard stepped onto it, a blue holographic of the Illusive Man materialised in front of him, seated in his usual position, and smoking.

"Shepard, it's good to see that you made it out, I've taken the liberty of dispatching a small escort force to assist you in returning to port.". but before he could continue David crossed his arms, leaned back on one foot and quicker one corner of his mouth up in a half-smile.

"We've already had this discussion, I've made my choice, I won't work for Cerberus anymore.". The Illusive man's face went hard, he leaned forward and extinguished the cigaret.

"Very well.". He tapped a few commands into an unseen console.

The Cerberus ships peeled away and TIM cut the transmition.

"Joker, get us out of here.". David walked out of the projector's range and shut the machine down, there was a rumble and a jolt as the FTL engines kicked in and shot the Normandy away from the Omega4 relay.

As the ship rocketed through space, Shepard punched in Councillor Anderson's contact data and stepped back into the projector.

Anderson appeared in front of Shepard and nodded.

"It's good to see that you've made it back Shepard, to what do I owe this 'visit'?".

"I've come back to rejoin the Alliance, I have information and technology that will help the humans.". Anderson nodded again and shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

"You do realise that the rest of the council may not fully agree with your return, but they can not do anything about it, it will be good to have you back.". Shepard nodded and closed the channel.

"Joker, what's out ETA to the Citadel?".

"About six hours sir, the ship is going as fast as she can, but she took a beating against the Collectors.".

"Good, keep me informed, I'll be in my quarters.". 'Catching up on some much needed sleep' he said to himself as he walked down the corridor.

When they arrived on the Citadel, Anderson was already waiting, with a trio of marine guards.

"EDI, prepare a copy of all the Collector data and transfer it to my omni-tool.".

"Yes sir commander.". The AI replied, Shepard took Garrus and Miranda with him to meet with Anderson.

Shepard and Anderson shook hands and Anderson led the group to an out of the way spot, so that they could talk in private.

The two sat down at a booth.

"As much as I am overjoyed by your return to the alliance, it is at a strained time.". Shepard arched an eyebrow.

"I don't quite understand sir.". Anderson sighed and leaned forward.

"After you were reinstated as a SPECTRE and left the citadel, the council started receiving reports from one of their top SPECTREs, an asari named Tomira, she indicated that there was a ship coming toward the colonies in the Scorpio sector, just on the edge of council space.". Shepard leaned back, crossing his arms.

"I don't get what this has to do with me, and I've never heard of these colonies before.".

"The scorpio colonies were established two years ago, just after the first Normandy was destroyed, this concerns you because, there are two human colonies in that area, and they are in danger if this is an attack, the council was amassing a fleet to intercept the ship but Cerberus beat us to it, Cerberus sent a force of twenty-five ships, when they opposed the unknown vessel, they were destroyed, no survivors, the most disturbing part is that the weapons used by the unknown were exactly the same as Sovereign's.".

David nodded slowly, he activated his omni-tool and brought up the reaper data, weapons data and shield data.

"I'm going to transfer a copy of all the data we collected at the Collector base, and some upgrades to our ships that should give us a better chance in our next battle against the reapers.". Anderson stood and shook Shepard's hand.

"It's good to have you back David, good luck in the Scorpio sector.". Shepard got up and headed back to the Normandy.

"Joker, set a course for the Scorpio sector, EDI, ready our weapons, we never know what will be on the other side of the relay.". Joker manifests the ship out of the dock and accelerated toward the mass relay indicated in the coordinates.

The multi-racial colony, Eternal Oases, was quiet and peaceful, at least around the cities, in the countryside, human, quarian, turian and salarian soldiers battled against husks and the heretic Geth, sent out by the massive Reaper, hovering over the landscape, it was wider than Sovereign due to two pods on both sides of it and each pod had it's own set of claw-like appendages. The Reaper's forces had breached the perimeter of one city and were sending up loads of data and prisoners. The Normandy dropped Shepard and his whole team off at the edge of the battle and turned around to scan the reaper at a safe distance.

"Alright, here's how this is gonna go down, Grunt, Mordin, Legion and Jack, go help out the soldiers, Samara, Jacob, , and , go and hit the Geth from the side, Garuss, Miranda and I will head into the city, good luck!". The teams nodded and split off, Shepard and his group turned and headed into the city.

The Geth assault groupe was not hard to find, they just followed the trail of destruction, there were roughly one hundred Geth troopers and thirty Geth commandos. They were transmuting data from the city's core and loading captured civilians onto the drop-ships.

Shepard was about to order a pullback to formulate a plan when thirty-some human marines opened fire on the synthetics from various rooftops and windows, the Geth focused all their attention on this attack, allowing David and Miranda to get into rocket range, twin plumes of smoke reached out and blasted twelve Geth into smoking shards.

Garuss sniped off several of the robots, thirty Geth were down before they realised their predicament, the commandos broke down the doors to the buildings that the marines were occupying and filed in, leaving the troopers to deal with the attackers from the outside.

Shepard fired his assault rifle at an oncoming Geth, depleting the clip and riddling the body with holes, he reloaded and switched to his rocket launcher, sending three of the shaped explosives into the Geth lines.

The marines inside the buildings were giving he commandos a hard time, but they were ultimately losing.

David tossed the spent thermal clip away and fired contained bursts from his rifle, this proved to be mor effective, and three Geth died under his gun.

"Garrus, cover us, were going in and helping the marines.".

"Got it.". David and Miranda broke cover and rushed toward the first building, they were halfway there when the top floors exploded, the Geth drop-ships peeled away, David and Miranda were thrown back thirty feet and the remaining Geth were crushed by the rubble.

Shepard coughed and stumbled to his feet, he helped Miranda up and they met up with Garrus back the way they had come.

"Joker, what's the status of the Reaper?".

"The thing is moving sir, all the Geth have pulled back to it, this sucker's huge! You'd bett...et...ere...mander?". The channel filled with static and a voice slightly different from Sovereign's replaced Joker's.

"Foolish beings of flesh and blood, you may have defeated Sovereign but it was not the last, we will finish what it started, we are Retribution.". The comm went dead and the Normandy roared overhead, dropping the ramp, Joker lowered the ship so that the ground team could board, as soon as the ramp was closed the Normandy shot into the air, away from Retribution and the city.

As the Normandy flew away, Retribution moved over the city and incinerated it with it's lasers.

Shepard stood behind Joker's chair as they orbited the planet.

"Contact Anderson.".

"You got it commander.". Shepard left the bridge and headed for the comm room.

Anderson's hologram shimmered and twitched as it appeared.

"Shepard, how are things going in Scorpio sector?". Shepard wasted no time.

"It's the Reapers, there is only one, it called itself Retribution.". Anderson's mouth quirked up in a half smile.

"Well that's a fitting name, considering what happened to the first Reaper.".

"No sir, but that's not the worst part, listen to this.". Shepard played the short statement.

"Foolish beings of flesh and blood, you may have defeated Sovereign but he was not the last, we will finish what he started, we are Retribution.". Anderson looked thoughtful, finally he spoke.

"That is strange, it said WE, not I, I wonder what it meant... Well we'll have to consider this later, the council's fleet has arrived, and forty-two percent of the ships are outfitted with the weapons you brought back, the rest of our ships are being outfitted as we speak, we will attack Retribution before it leaves the system, good luck.". Shepard saluted and deactivated the projector and activated the intercom.

"Joker, how long until we rendezvous with the fleet?".

"One hour commander.".

"Good, sound combat alarms, EDI, power up all weapons and shields."

"Of course commander.". Shepard walked into the armoury and proceeded to gear up.

An hour and a half later, the Normandy was drifting alongside over sixty human and alien vessels, in the distance, Retribution was the size of a marble, growing larger with each passing second, Admiral Hackett's voice boomed over the inter-ship comm.

"All ships, fire primary weapons, any ships with the Thannik cannon, concentrate fire to the centre of Retribution, do not break formation, keep your engines hot for evasive actions, god speed and good luck.". The Admiral's flagship, 'Stalingrad', was the first to fire, the newly built cannon charged and released a javelin of sapphire energy, the rest of the ships in the fleet fired seconds after, hundreds of missiles and pulse lasers raced toward the incoming Reaper, it's shields flashed red as they absorbed wave after wave of destruction, the reaper was now close enough that you could see the lights on it's front, it's forward claws reached forward and lines of ruby energy speared several ships, their shields popped and their reactor detonated.

Retribution's shields were slowly being overwhelmed, but then it played it's hand. The two pods on either side of the reaper broke away and reoriented themselves, they were two smaller Reapers, about a fourth as big as Retribution, the main reaper's voice came over the comm.

"You have made a mistake, you can not defeat us, we are Retribution and you can not stop us.". The smaller reapers began firing, the Council fleet began to fall apart, ships were being destroyed left and right, nobody knew what to shoot and the fire coordination degraded until admiral Hackett tried to rally what was left of the fleet.

"All ships, focus fire on Retribution Beta, we'll take 'em down one at a time.". Lasers crisscrossed the space between the ships and for a moment, it looked like the humans and their allies might win, the normandy circled Retribution Beta, the Thannik cannon playing across the shield, Joker expertly dodged the retaliating blasts and nimbly slipped into the Reaper's blind spots.

The multi-racial fleet was down to fourth ships when Hackett ordered the retreat, several ships took hits while they fled, leaving them shattered and burning, the fleet retreated through the mass relay and, from there, proceeded to bring up a fresh fleet to seal off the relay, there were more, but they would not matter for the moment.

Shepard contacted Anderson after the battle.

"David, I assume that since your still alive, that you and Hackett stopped the reaper?".

"No, the reaper had two smaller ones attached to it, the instant they came out it was a slaughter, we think that they are headed for the citadel, how is the outfitting of our ships going?". Anderson sighed.

"Not as fast as we like, only forty percent of all alliance warships are outfitted with the new shields and Thannik cannons. Only thirty percent of the remaining races ships are outfitted, and all of them are at the citadel.". Shepard knuckled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"Great, try to hurry it up, the Normandy and I will see if we can't find us some data from Sovereign's wreckage, it's still at the citadel?". Anderson shook his head.

"It was on it's way to a research base when a Cerberus fleet attacked and stole it, we tracked it down to a heavily guarded base on a small planet named Dithrian, if you can get to the databanks there you might find something useful, god speed.". Anderson signed off.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two in my series, thanks for reading this far, there will be more action in the next chapter or so. Please review and comment, I appreciate all the input I get.

Chapter 2

Dithrian, seven hours later.

The Normandy appeared in space alongside the Dithrian relay, it launched the lander and went into cloak.

The lander touched down just outside the defence grid of the Cerberus base, Shepard, Garrus and Miranda dropped out and started moving toward the base.

Almost immediately, Garrus spotted a Cerberus patrol, three marines were walking along a small footpath, completely oblivious to the Spectre and his team, Garrus sighted through the scope of his sniper and took aim.

The first man dropped without a sound, the second looked around to try and spot where the shot came from, then he was dead as well, the last man tried to find cover when the next shot caught his neck, spraying blood over the rocks.

Joker's voice crackled over the comm.

"Watch out commander, in a few minutes, that patrol is going to be missed, you'd better hurry up.".

David led his team to a ledge overlooking the Cerberus base, it was small but well guarded, there were multiple bunkers and anti-air turrets placed around the compound, and patrols combed the area constantly.

"Joker, I need an air strike at these three coordinates.". Shepard uploaded the coordinates to the Normandy, in seconds the ship flashed by overhead, a trio of blue flashes lit up the base, the defence generator was destroyed, the primary generator was damaged and there were several fires going on around the base, David and his team slipped in undetected.

The data core was guarded by a pair of marines, all of the other personnel were fighting the fires or repairing the generator, David use his biotic powers and blasted the pair with a ball of fire, disintegrating them, Miranda got to work hacking into the mainframe, in seconds she had accessed all of the data collected from Sovereign, top secret or otherwise.

"I've got it, let's go.". The group slipped out and was heading for their exit when a squad of seven Cerberus troopers spotted them, the soldiers opened fire and charged, Shepard tossed a grenade and hid.

Only three soldiers survived, one was screaming into his mike, reporting the breach, the other two were disoriented, Shepard left them alive and headed back to the lander.

EDI was already processing the data when Shepard arrived on the ship, Joker fired the engines and the ship strained to break through the atmosphere, suddenly the AI's holographic form turned a deep red.

"Warning, two hostile vessels approaching, scans match them to, Cerberus cruisers, powering up weapons and FTL drive.". Shepard stood by Joker's chair.

"Joker, take them out, but don't destroy them.".

"You got it commander.". The cruisers fired their primary cannons, a pair of pulse lasers raced at the Normandy, who's shields absorbed the force and shrugged it off, joker gunned the engines and dove.

The cruisers moved to track the nimble ship as it arced around and raced toward them, the Normandy's Thannik cannon fired, the first cruiser's engines were cut loose and the ship drifted, primary power lost, the second scored a direct hit on the Normandy, flaring the shields as it whipped past.

Joker expertly manipulated the controls of the ship and brought the weapons to bear on the engines of the second cruiser, but before he could fire Shepard stopped him.

"Wait, EDI, open a channel to that ship's captain.".

"Of course commander.". A gravelly voice filled the speakers.

"This is the captain of the 'Silver Dawn' what do you want?".

"This is commander David Shepard of the Human Systems Alliance, I am giving you one chance to stand down and rescue your buddy, let us go and we'll let you live.". The comm was silent, then EDI spoke up.

"Commander, their weapons are powering down and they are moving off.". The Cerberus ship tilted and tractor beamed the other cruiser and headed away from the planet, the Normandy did the same, and they made off with the data they needed.

Unknown location.

The Illusive Man clenched his fist as the newest data on Shepard came in, the two cruisers he had sent had failed, and Shepard had gotten away with all the information on Sovereign, he tapped his cigarette and pinched the bridge of his nose, Shepard was more trouble than he was worth.

Aboard the Normandy, somewhere in the Dithrian system.

David the whole crew were assembled in the conference room, discussing their find.

"If it's weapon technology we should employ it." Said Tali, Grunt nodded but Samara disagreed.

"We don't know if it is legitimate data, it could be a trap, but it's up to shepard." Everyone turned to shepard who cupped his chin. After a few seconds he looked up to the expectant faces.

"We'll use it, if these new technologies will give us the edge against our enemies they are worth the risk, EDI, begin the upgrading ASAP, the meeting was dismissed.

Several hours later David was going over some dossiers that the Illusive man had sent him just before the suicide mission, most were irrelevant now but one stood out, he tapped the icon.

Cerberus dossier #137259.1736.

Kevin O'Neil.

Subject is an ex Special Forces agent, he is to be considered dangerous and should not be underestimated.

Description: Green eyes, brown-blonde hair, hair goes down to eyebrows and is slightly curly, 6'5", well built.

Specialties: Stealth, assassination, martial arts and one of the last remaining beings that use a Katana, this weapon is to be considered extremely dangerous in his hands. Subject is also a very competent biotic.

All attempts to capture have failed information available from encounters.

Parties that are enemies of subject include; Blue suns, Salarian intelligence, C-sec, Cerberus, and various other groups.

Threat level to assigned target once hired: high.

End of dossier.

David whistled as he closed the file, he activated EDI's panel, the AI's hologram materialised and flickered blue.

"How may I help you commander?".

"Can you tell me the last possible sighting of Kevin O'Neil?". EDI's form dimmed as she searched her memory banks.

"Subject's last sighting was on the citadel around the Green Moon bar, two days ago.". Shepard clapped his hands together.

"Great, have Joker get us to the citadel ASAP.".

EDI turned the panel off and very soon the Normandy was headed off to the citadel.

The Green Moon was not as busy as you'd imagine a club to be, there were several people at the bar and several tables were occupied.

Shepard, Garrus and Miranda walked into the centre of the club and looked around, Garrus spotted Kevin in the far corner, seated alone and hunkered over a shot glass, they slowly worked their way to him.

He seemed not to notice as they approached him, Shepard stood a mere two feet away, seeming to dwarf the man at the table.

"Are you Kevin O'Neil?". Kevin downed the shot.

"Are you here to kill him?". Shepard shook his head and Kevin leaned bavk, giving them a half shadowed view of his face.

"Then, to you, yes, what do you want?". Shepard proceeded to explain their mission, Kevin's face never changed, it just remained a solid, neutral expression, he waited until David had finished before speaking.

"So you want me to join up with your group of little heroes and save the universe, possibly getting killed by either Geth, Collectors, Krogan, Mercs and/or Reapers?". Shepard nodded, he was sure that kevin would decline. Kevin let five seconds tick by, then he chuckled.

"Better than sitting here, sign me up, I'll find my way to your ship.". He stood and left, the trio watched him go, before they left as well.

Author's note, I hope you are enjoying the series so far, sorry this chapter didn't have more action and was so short, chapter 3 will be coming out in maybe two to three days after this is posted. I'm writing this on my iPod touch in the Notes section, so I type faster but there may be some delays between chapters, because the Internet connection around my place is really bad and I need to email these stories to myself because there is no other way that I know about to get the story onto a computer.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 in my series of ME fanfics, there will be a bit more action in this one but I'm saving the best for last, there will probably be ten to fifteen chapters in the whole series, maybe more, I haven't decided yet, anyway, hope you enjoy. Don't forget to comment and review, your input is important to me.

David Shepard came onto the Normandy bridge to find Joker already expecting him.  
"You've got an urgent caller waiting for you, it's Anderson.". David nodded and took the message at his private terminal. Anderson's face filled the screen.  
"Shepard, no time for talk, what did you uncover from Sovereign's remains?".  
"Just some new armor and shield technology, and some shit that could upgrade our infantry weapons, we're already implementing all of it onto the Normandy, and are 93% complete.". Anderson let out a breath.  
"Good, because Retribution Beta, three Collector ships and about twenty heretic Geth ships are on the edge of the Scorpio systems and are moving toward another multi-racial colony, Common Ground, we have thirty upgraded ships around that planet, but it seems as though the heretic Geth have some defense upgrades of their own, but it's the reaper and Collectors I'm worried about, can you get there in ten hours?". Shepard nodded.  
"You can count on me, but what about Retribution and Retribution Omega?".  
"We assume that they are also gearing up for an assault.".  
"Alright, we'll stop Ret' B, Shepard out.". He closed the channel.  
"Joker, get us to Common Ground yesterday!".  
"Aye aye sir.". The Normandy left the dock and shot off toward the mass relay leading to the Scorpio systems.

Common Ground, ten hours later.

The Normandy came out of the mass relay ready for battle, in the distance, the two fleets were trading shots, the weapon and shield upgrades were helping the council ships to hold their own, even the Reaper's weapons took two shots to kill a ship, the Geth and Collector forces were keeping the council ships from focusing on Retribution beta.  
Joker brought the Normandy up behind a Geth cruiser and fired the Thannik cannon, the ship had all of it's kinetic barriers focused on it's bow, so the sapphire lance of energy ripped the larger warship in half.  
The bridge crew cheered and whooped as the Normandy circled it's kill three times before moving on to a collector ship, two Alliance cruisers were being tied down by this massive ship, but as soon as the Normandy's Thannik cannon fired, it's unprotected rear was severely damaged, the alliance ships made short work of the vessel before moving to assist the rest.  
Shepard saw several Geth and Collector dropships break through and latch onto the orbiting station, which controlled the planet's orbital defense grid, Shepard pointed at the station.  
"Joker, get me and a team on there and then get back to the fight.". Joker nodded and steered the frigate away.  
David, Garrus and Kevin landed in the hangar, hefting the new breed of weapons, Plasmatically Charged Round, assault rifles and pistols. The three collectors and seven Geth in the hangar fired upon the small group, which fired back, the PCR rifles cut through the Geth shields like nothing was resisting them, the synthetics were dead in seconds.  
The collectors were harder to put down but their shields were useless against the PCR weapons, in he corner, a Geth armature unfolded and stomped toward the group.  
Three Collector scions dropped from the back of he armature, they glowed with biotic energy, and sent several bolts of energy toward Shepard and his group. Kevin dodged the first biotic attack and used his own, the first scion was thrown back ten meters and slammed into the armature, Shepard sidestepped the attacks directed at him and emptied a clip into the scion, collapsing it's shields and riddling the body with bullet holes.  
Garrus was hit by the third biotic attack and was slammed into the ground, he lay there stunned as David and kevin took care of the last collector, the armature started to build up a charge for it's cannon.  
The team fired from cover but the powerful shields of the armature held fast, it fired a ball of energy at Shepard, who ducked and let his cover block the shot.  
Shepard looked around for his team, Garrus was crouched behind a heavy crate but Kevin was nowhere to be seen, David peeked over his cover and fired at the armature.  
A black streak blurred across the front of the armature, it left a small disk in the forward right leg joint before disappearing into the mess of crates.  
The grenade detonated and downed the joint's shields, Shepard fired precise bursts from his PCR AR-5B, the joint snapped under as the bullets cut away the metal fibers, the armature collapsed and shorted out.  
"Damn, those things are hard to kill.". Kevin said as he jumped up from between the crates he had landed among after planting the grenade, Garrus chuckled.  
"If you think that was hard, you should have seen us on , we had to take a colossus on foot, you haven't seen anything yet.". Kevin absentmindedly drew his katana and twirled it in complex patterns. Shepard contacted Joker for a status report.  
"What's the situation Joker?". The voice on the other end sounded like it's owner was in a different world.  
"It's uh, fine, the fleet is holding out quite well, Retribution B is being hit hard and it's support fleet is at 47%.".  
"Good, we are heading for the command. Center, the station is crawling with Geth and Collectors, so it might be a bit before the defense grid is active again.".  
"Great, just hurry.". The comm shut off and David shoulders his AR.  
"Let's get moving!". The trio jogged through the primary hatch and into the main hallway. They heard shots fired from around the first corner and readied their weapons, a crewman was running from an enemy around the corner but when he reached the far wall a laser burst caught his back, splattering blood on the wall. Three collectors rounded the corner, Kevin glowed blue and a flash of sapphire energy obscured the aliens. When the light cleared the collectors were floating helplessly in the air, Shepard shot each one twice in the head, their blood leaked out the bullet holes and floated alongside the former owners.  
David, Kevin and Garrus were already around the corner when the biotic attack wore off, dropping the bodies to the floor and splattering the free-floating blood everywhere.

Author's note: End of chapter 3, hope you enjoyed it, please review., chapter four will be out in a few days, after chapter four there may be a delay of several days before I even consider starting CH5, but I plan on seeing this through. Thanks to all of you who have taken the time to review, I have benefitted from your input. :)  
DN24k. 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Joker swore as a laser from the Reaper nearly hit the Normandy, he manipulated the controls and danced the frigate around several wrecked ships, the Reaper filled the main view, it's shields were taking a beating from multiple Turian, Asari and Alliance vessels, the Geth ships were almost destroyed and the collectors had been driven off.  
The Normandy's Thannik cannon played a blue laser across the Reaper as it flew by, the small reaper fired again and speared a Turian cruiser on it's ruby laser.  
Joker was in the middle of maneuvering through the wreckage of several Geth ships when the commander called.  
"What's the situation Joker?". joker was annoyed by the distraction but did his best to reply without showing it.  
"It's uh, fine, the fleet is holding out quite well, Retribution B is being hit hard and it's support fleet is at 47%.".  
"Good, we are heading for the command. Center, the station is crawling with Geth and Collectors, so it might be a bit before the defense grid is active again.".  
"Great, just hurry.". Joker shut the comm off and turned around for another pass. This time the Thannik cannon's laser hit armor and left a glowing scar on the Reaper, not very deep but a scar nonetheless, the fleet admiral's voice formed on the comm channel.  
"Its shields are down, all ships focus fire and bring it down!". The remaining ships turned away from everything else and began to pour fire onto the reaper, the Geth ships took this opportunity and began to attack the alliance ships that had once been beating them back, this forced a third of the fleet's firepower to be diverted.  
The reaper recovered from the onslaught and resumed firing, two more ships died as their shields popped and their armor boiled away. It seemed like the reaper would win anyway until the orbital station flashed to life and it's weapon systems came online.  
Hundreds of missiles, pulse lasers and kinetic rounds raced toward the Reaper, it seemed to absorb the massive amounts of destruction and turned, it accelerated away, disappearing into space along with the six Geth cruisers that had survived. The humans and their allies had won this round.  
Joker wiped the sweat off his brow and slumped in the pilot chair, he sighed when the commander contacted the ship.  
"Can't get a few minutes rest before someone calls around here.". He muttered before receiving the call.  
"Joker, send the lander to pick us up.".  
"You got it commander.".  
A few minutes after David and the away team were back on the ship Councillor Anderson contacted Shepard. David received him in the comm room.  
"Shepard, how did the battle go?". David grinned.  
"We drove them off, but we'll need some new ships to defend this colony, we lost a bunch in the battle.".  
"No problem, we can send thirty fresh ships over immediately, on a different note, the council is calling all Specters to the citadel for some sort of unveiling, you'd better hurry back.". Anderson signed off, and Shepard ordered the Normandy to return to port.

The Citadel, one day later.

Shepard and twenty other specters were clustered inside an observation room, holograms of the council were projected in front of the window, on the other side of the clear alloy were two ships, covered in large white sheets, the Asari councillor was the first to speak.  
"In this time of war we need our specters more than ever, that is why, with the help of the Human Systems Alliance, we have developed a new breed of ships, we present the Normandy class stealth frigates!". The sheets were pulled off the ships, revealing two ships similar to the Normandy but less angular and smooth, the assembled specters murmured amongst themselves, david just chuckled to himself.  
"Joker is going to love this.". He thought, the Turian was he next to speak.  
"As you all know, he original Normandy, and the SR2, their crews and commander have preformed most admirably, but they cannot be everywhere, so we have created this new class of frigate for the specters and their teams, they are equipped with the latest technology and are equipped for specter level missions, now all they need are commanders, and a crew.". A Turian specter by the name of Tuthik was the first to step forward.  
"My crew and I will take on this great honor, does the ship have a name?". The asari councillor shook her head.  
"Not yet, you must name the ship yourself.".  
"Very well, this ship will be named, Infinity.". The council nodded their approval, the second specter to step forward was an Asari, she named her vessel, Pride. The two specters left to gather their crews and vacate their old ships, the council members answered the question that was on everyones mind.  
"There are already more Normandy class frigates in production, they will be assigned by status, the next three should be ready for duty in three days, until then, resume your duties.". The meeting was dismissed and Shepard headed back to the Normandy.  
"No way!". Joker was laughing as David told him of the new frigates.  
"We did such a good job hat they named a ship class after the Normandy? Cool!" he leaned back, both men were sitting at a table in the Normandy's mess hall nursing a drink, possibly the last drink they would have for a while.  
Over the next three days, the Normandy and her crew were sent to various locations in and around the Scorpio systems, trying to anticipate the Reapers next move, there were only a few sightings but each one was closer to the citadel, finally the council contacted Shepard. Anderson spoke on behalf of the council to Shepard.  
"The time has come, we have no other choice but to assume that Retribution is heading for the citadel next, we are calling all the warships we can spare back to the citadel, there is already a joint species fleet assembled and ready to defend.". Shepard shook his head.  
"I have one more thing to do before I can come back, I'm heading back to to try and speak to Vigil again or get some data on the reapers.". Anderson nodded.  
"Alright, we'll continue to gather our ships, good luck.". Shepard and Anderson saluted each other and closed the channel. 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 A/N: I have started to include more ship on ship action in my fanfics because I love writing about two ships battling it out, and there are more options for tactics and writing them is a mite bit easier, so expect more. I meant to include the name of the planet that Vigil is on but it escaped my mind at the time and when I emailed chapter 4 to myself I forgot to add it, so sorry for the typo I'm sure you'll find there. Also, don't forget to comment and review, I want to know what you think of how I write.( P.S. Many of the alien and planet names in my series are made up by me on the spot and I could use some more ideas, please submit your ideas for planet and alien person names.)

Vigil's chamber, several hours later.

The chamber was the same as it was two years ago, except for the absence of the Prothean AI, the projector that had once generated the image was deactivated, Vigil was dead. Shepard approached it to see if it would power up at his presence, nothing, he kneeled by the panel and gripped the edge, he strained but it would not budge.  
"Garrus, Kevin, a little help here!". His teammates ran over and helped him pry the panel out of the ground, when the dusty, stone-like slab of metal was removed, the electronics and core were revealed, David activated his communicator.  
"Miranda, Tali, get down here, we have exposed the core.".  
Minutes later the two female technicians were hard at work trying to remove the core and the surrounding machinery, Shepard, Garrus and O'Neil stood guard until the pair had finished their work. The core was carried to the ship on a hover trolley and hooked up to a section of EDI that was temporarily separated from the main computer, so that if anything went wrong, the AI would not be affected.  
"I will need four hours to analyze and translated the data, and another two to single out any that could help against the reapers.". Shepard nodded and walked up to the bridge. Joker was sitting in the pilot chair and checking over the ship's diagnostics, when the sensor console blared and turned red.  
David leaned over Joker's shoulder as he checked the readings.  
"Three Geth warships approaching the planet sir, the hostile ones.".  
"How soon can you get us off this rock and to the relay?".  
"I can do it in three minutes but those ships are right in out path, we'll have to get through at least one of them.".  
"Do it.". The Normandy's engines flickered and flared to life, the vegetation below was scorched and the sand was fused into glass.  
The ship lifted off and angled upwards, the engines gave one last blast and propelled the frigate into the sky.  
When the Geth ships came into weapons range of the Normandy they fired everything, but the smaller, nimble ship slipped through the torrent of death and fired it's Thannik cannon. The sapphire beam crashed into the lead ship, flaring the shields before punching through, the alloy was cut deep and scarred black, plasma conduits were severed and leaked freely into space, creating a blue haze around the ship and causing a slow degradation of it's armor as the plasma eroded the pink-grey material.  
The Normandy's pulse lasers followed, igniting the plasma and boiling away more layers of armor, leaving a substantial amount of the Geth ship's bow devoid of armor, the flanking ships fired again, the Normandy spiraled around the lasers and sent a pair of pulse beams at the leading cruiser, they pierced deep and cut into the core, the ship consumed itself in blue light too intense to be called mere flame. A halo of debris orbited the blast site, the other cruisers foolishly continued their forward course, the Thannik cannon's intense beam speared the second ship, balancing it on a thin line of blue energy, which moved up then down, cutting the hull like a scalpel, the two halves parted and drifted away from each other, Joker maneuvered the Normandy around the third cruiser and toward the relay, disappearing in a flash of light.

Five hours later, Franthnek system.

EDI had found something useful, a weaker portion of armor on the Reapers, it had been discovered too late for the protheans, but it could help save the next of the races. The weak point was a section of armor nestled in the back of the reaper, situated in the center area between it's rear four 'claws', concentrated or powerful weapon fire to this area once shields were down would damage the reaper faster, but it was near several laser emitters, and they were fatal to any ship hit by one. Shepard and his team talked it over in the briefing room.  
"So to attack this weak point could cost almost as many ships as if we hit it dead on from the front?". Garrus shook his head.  
"I just don't know it it's worth it, I mean, a three percent higher survival chance for any ship going here is not that much.".  
"I agree,". Said Samara. "But it is a better chance, if it gives us a better chance against the Reapers, it could mean the difference between victory and extinction.".  
"But what if your wrong?" Tali spoke up. "If assaulting this area still costs as many ships as a full frontal attack, why bother, we would need several more ships as fast, well equipped and well piloted as the Normandy.". At that, Joker's voice crackled over the speaker.  
"Thanks Tali, it's nice to know I have a fan.". David muttered to himself before replying.  
"I may have the answer to that, when the council called all of the specters back to the citadel, it was for the unveiling of a new breed of ships, the Normandy class stealth frigate, there were two already and I think that there are at least two to three more, we could gather them and explain why we need them at the battle.".  
"That sounds like a good plan, but how are we supposed to get to that weak point when the reapers are going to be surrounded by their support fleets and each other?". Inquired Kevin, Shepard nodded in his direction.  
"A very good question, this will be accomplished with a fleet, we will need to gather a fleet of at least twenty or more heavy warships and use them to get in close, this should take only a day or two at most, because all we need to do is gather a few ships from each system and then rendezvous with them at a relay connected to the citadel, in this case that system would be Torvus.". The group agreed, dispersed and returned to their respective tasks while Shepard remained behind and contacted Anderson.  
"Hello Shepard, how are things going on your mission?".  
"We have found a weak point in the reaper armor that could give us an edge, but we need as many Normandy class ships as we can get, I'll need the contact info for all of he specters that are now commanding a Normandy frigate.". Anderson nodded, looking like he could cheer at any second.  
"I'll send you the information, good job Shepard.".  
"Have there been any sightings of the Retributions?". Shepard asked he did not want to be caught unprepared when the reapers attacked again.  
"Yes, in the Sylvaras system, three relays away from the citadel, they will most likely come to the citadel from the Hypirid relay, we estimate thirty hours until they reach the us, but we have amassed a fleet of over two hundred ships, so we can put up a fight if we have to.". Shepard snapped his fingers.  
"Before you sign off, I need any ships you can pull off of planetary guard within twenty-five hours travel of the Torvus system to report there, I need at least twenty ships of cruiser class, maybe a carrier or two if possible.". Anderson crossed his arms and stroked his chin.  
"I'll see what I can do, good luck.". The hologram faded and dissipated, leaving David to his own devices. He contacted the other captains of the Normandy class frigates, that were available for combat. Silinar of the Incorruptible, Ragar of the Powerhouse, Eradna of the Armageddon and Darvos of the Shimmering Dawn, each captain pledged their services to David and agreed to meet him a Torvus in twenty-three hours.

Twenty-three hours later, Torvus-Citadel relay.

David marveled at the amount of ships that had answered his call, a grand total of thirty-four ships, three carriers, five assault cruisers, four heavy cruisers and the rest were the new standard upgraded cruisers, like the new majority of alliance and council warships, they were equipped with the Thannik cannon and the shield and hull upgrades. The other specter captains had also shown up, the whole fleet had been briefed and knew what to do, they simply waited for their scouts to bring back reports every quarter hour, the last scout had been unable to get a good reading because of a small ionic storm so they were about to send another scout through.  
David stood by Joker's chair as they waited, sweat was already beading on everyones brows and necks, the sir was heavy and time seemed to stop as the scout returned three minutes early. A woman's voice crackled over the comm.  
"Commander Shepard! The citadel is under heavy attack, it looks like the battle has been going on for almost seven or eight minutes, but the citadel fleets are holding, just barely.". Shepard nodded to Joker, who gunned the Normandy's engines and activated FLEETCOMM.  
"All Normandy class ships, hang back for ten seconds, let the heavy classes go through first, they are our ticket to the reapers, heavy classes, try and get the enemy as confused as possible, let's go people!". The fleet jumped forward and disappeared in a series of rapid-fire flashes.

Aboard Alliance cruiser 'Burning Justice II', in station keeping around the citadel with the Grand Fleet, nine minutes earlier.  
Ensign Wallace jumped as his sensor panel beeped, he checked the readings, twice, then raised his voice.  
"Captain, sensors show a large amount of ships exiting the Hypirid relay, wait, the exit emissions have stopped, scans indicate roughly three hundred, six ships, three reapers, three fifths Geth and two fifths Collectors, they are moving in, will be in weapon range in twenty seconds!". The captain activated the comm.  
"This is an alert to the fleet, Retribution's fleet has arrived, initiate combat protocol. The fleet turned to face the incoming tide of ships, they charged their weapons and fired, hundreds of lines of death crossed the space between them, explosions lit up the formations and ships were blasted apart, Wallace held on as a stray Geth missile found their ship, the lights dimmed and he saw the kinetic barriers pop and die, another laser headed for their ship and filled wallace's vision with golden light.

Shepard's fleet appeared in space and continued on it's path, straight at the reapers, who were only protected by a thin screen of forty-some Geth ships, the reapers and their fleets were slowly inching toward the citadel, who, like last time, could not close the arms, but at this rate, it would be almost an hour before Retribution reached the citadel, but it was Shepard's goal to stop that. His fleet engaged the reapers and their escorts in a frenzied battle, while the Normandy and her sisters weaved their way toward Retribution Beta, who still bore the scars of it's near defeat.  
They managed to maneuver behind the smaller reaper and charge their Thannik cannons, five bile spears of energy struck the same place, causing the shields to ripple and spark, the reaper began to slowly turn, whilst being bombarded with pulse lasers and Thannik beams, it's weapons charged and emitted ruby beams, the smaller ships easily dodged the beMs and continued to pound the ship, weaving around it in a complex pattern, a special maneuver designed to bring them together behind the reaper, it worked, they charged and fired their Thannik cannons one-by-one, the shields popped and the lasers pierced the weak point, they went deep, causing secondary explosions to rack the machine, it was torn in half by the force and floated lifelessly in space.  
The Normandy bridge crew cheered as the remains drifted away, then a red light lit up the main console, the second reaper was heading right for them, before they could react, the PowerHouse was vaporized by a beam from the reaper, the other ships maneuvered out of the way and scattered, the Normandy angled around and fired at a few of the Geth ships, the pulse lasers tore their rear sections to shreds due to the fact that they had all of their shields focused forward. The freed alliance ships went to work helping the others, and soon, the remaining twenty-two ships were engaged with Retribution Omega, the Normandy class frigates swarmed around it, distracting it and pounding it with relentless assaults, the original Normandy was following the original Retribution, all of it's. Ships were busy with the citadel and Alliance fleets Normandy was about to attack when the alliance flagship exploded, taking three geth cruisers and two Turian destroyers down with it.  
The outgoing fire from he fleet became less organized and it seemed like the fleet might crumble when another, sleeker looking ship came out of the citadel, the same general shape and size of the first flagship, and then a voice that was very familiar to Shepard echoed over the fleet channel. 


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

"This is councillor Anderson, I am taking command of the fleet, coordinate your fire, do not break formation!". Anderson's ship stopped when it reached the center of the inter-species fleet, the fire was once again coordinated and the enemy advance halted, but not before Retribution made it to the citadel, pursued by all of the Normandy frigates and the original.  
The arms closed just as the Normandy slipped through, the reaper angled toward the citadel tower, intending to activate the mass relay that would bring the rest of the reapers and the destruction of all sentient life.  
The Simmering Dawn spiraled around the massive machine and played the laser from it's Thannik cannon across the front, but the reaper was stronger than Sovereign and shrugged off the blow.  
"Joker, get us alongside the reaper, my team and I will go in and try to do what we can from inside.". Joker nodded, totally concentrated on the controls, EDI popped up next to the pilot.  
"You will need some protection from the Reaper's mind abilities, you saw what happened to the Cerberus team when they were on that derelict reaper.". Shepard nodded. EDI continued to speak.  
"So to prevent that, I have had inhibitors installed on your armor and the armor of your team, to prevent the reaper from affecting your minds, good luck commander.".  
"Thank you, keep the ship in one piece Joker, I don't want to be stuck on Retribution any longer than I have to.". He left the bridge and met with his team in the hangar.  
"Okay people, we are going on that reaper, get anything you need and some powerful explosives, we'll go in three teams, Miranda, take Legion, Tali and Thane, go down to the main power source or whatever looks important, Jack, Grunt, Samara and Jacob, head up, blow anything that looks crucial, Kevin, Garrus and I will head straight, with the same objective, expect heavy resistance and be prepared for damage caused by our ships, they will still be attacking, good luck everyone.". They split into their teams and waited while Joker brought the ship into alignment with the hull, the group spaced themselves and drifted toward the gigantic ship.  
They drifted through the kinetic barriers and landed on the hull, within seconds they had blown a small hole in the armor and dropped in. The inside was dimly lit and ominous, the teams split up and headed deep into the reaper, leaving tracking beacons to find their way back.  
There was no resistance as the small team progressed, they would check every chamber, only to find nothing, then the team moved on, after several minutes they reached what seemed to be the weapons triangulation, there were many screens and each showed a different view of the Normandy frigates, circled moved to track each as they weaved around the reaper, the circles would lock on and fire the laser but it always missed because the nimble ships dodged out of the way. Shepard began placing high explosives around the room, Kevin and Garrus joined him, soon the room was set, and the team turned and headed back to their exit.  
The group met up with the others and left the ship as one, they pushed off and sailed toward the far wall of the citadel, the Normandy appeared in their field ov vision, cargo bay open like a scoop and ready to pick them up.  
The instant the bay door closed, Shepard contacted the bridge.  
"Joker, what's Retribution's status?".  
"It just began to open a relay around the tower sir, we have five minutes until the relay is fully powered and ready to receive arrivals.".  
"Then let's hit that SOB as hard as we can.". With that, David hit the detonator on his omni-tool, s dries of tiny explosions appeared on Retribution, it's shields flickered and dimmed, and it's weapons died for a moment, the frigates hit it with everything they had.  
The first salvo of Thannik cannon lasers downed the shields and etched scorched grooves into it's hull, the pulse lasers dented and boiled away more armor, exposing small patches of frame underneath. For four more minutes they pounded the reaper, but it would not give, the relay reached full power and Shepard could see the shimmering image of all the reapers on the other end, his blood ran cold and he broke out in a sweat, there were hundreds of reapers, possibly thousands, if even three got through it would be over.  
Suddenly a stray laser hit the relay aligner, and caused the image to fracture and distort, the first two reapers reached the relay on their end and disappeared in a flash of light, but did not reappear in the citadel, the relay sparked and shut down, and the Normandy fired one last Thannik blast at Retribution, the laser gutted the heavily damaged reaper through the center, it split down the middle and exploded, sending debris scattering throughout the space inside the citadel, the arms slowly opened, revealing the carnage outside, EDI suddenly spoke up.  
"Incoming transmission from Retribution's remains, very faint and fading fast.". The mechanical yet intimidating voice echoed through the ship's speakers.  
"This is only a small delay, a futile attempt at delaying the inevitable, we will continue to come until you are destroyed, more are coming,  
you will fall before them.". As the voice faded it said it's final words.  
"We will not stop, you will be overwhelmed by our might.". Then Retribution died. Outside the citadel, retribution Omega was retreating through the relay that it had come from and the majority of the surviving Geth and Collector ships were following, out of three hundred, only sixty-some survived the battle, but the alliance and it's allies fared little better, only seventy ships remained and they all were damaged, but the second battle for the citadel had been won.  
Anderson and Shepard met on the Normandy, in the conference room, Anderson's council uniform was stained with sweat and several tears ran up the sleeves, a bandaged cut on his forehead and arm were the only other signs of the battle.  
"That was too close Shepard.".  
"I agree, we need to find a better way to destroy them, or we will not win this war.". Anderson nodded solemnly, Shepard shifted his weight.  
"How long do you think we have until the rest of the reapers arrive here?". Anderson shrugged and leaned back against the wall.  
"Well, if the image you saw in the mass relay is accurate, the stars in the background place them at somewhere between ten to thirty light-years away, so we have maybe six, seven months.". Shepard and Anderson both sighed, this war was going to be long and harsh, and they may not survive, but they would try their best to stop the coming storm.  
Anderson left soon after and Shepard was about to retire to his quarters when Joker called him up to the bridge.  
"What is it Joker?". The pilot turned around in his chair.  
"You remember those two reapers that seemed to go through the relay just after it was hit?". Shepard nodded.  
"Well, we may have found them, or at least half of them.". He held up a schematic, two half destroyed reapers floated in space around the human border colony, Far Reaching, in the Terminus systems.  
"There are is already a Alliance battle-group guarding them, they are waiting on us.". Shepard grinned.  
"Well, let's not keep them waiting.". Within seconds the Normandy had entered the relay and was on it's way.  
Shepard stood on the bridge, watching space race by, and for the first time in days, hope was rekindled in his heart, maybe they could win this war after all.

That is the end of this fanfic, I hope you enjoyed it and please comment, I would also like to know if you people think I should do a sequel , please let me know, for now, I am working on either a Lord of The Rings fanfic or something else, check that out in a few days.  
Bye for now,  
DN24k 


	7. Final word

A/N: Hello everyone, i am sorry to announce that this is the end of my ME3: Retribution fic as well as my ME fic writing career, i may do more in the future but do not expect any from me for quite some time.

DN24k 


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